1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a display control method and a display control program that can suitably find applications in the field of information processing apparatus having a multi-window type graphical user interface (GUI).
2. Description of the Related Art
Many information processing apparatus such as personal computers that have recently been and currently are being marketed have a GUI as user interface to allow the user to easily comprehend how to operate the input devices including a mouse and a touch panel at a glance.
Information processing apparatus of this type include those having a multi-window type GUI designed to display a plurality of windows that are assigned to respective processes so that the user can select a desired process by selecting the corresponding window.
Each window serves as the frame of the work area of each process, where characters and images that correspond to the process and a menu and icons (including buttons) showing the assigned commands that are executable for the process are arranged. For example, in the case of a window for a web browser, characters and images of a home page and a menu and icons showing the assigned commands relating to viewing the home page are arranged in the frame.
Icons common to the processes including icons for manipulating windows such as an icon for changing the display size of a window and an icon for closing a window are also arranged at a predetermined position in the windows. Thus, the user can manipulate windows by using such icons. For example, the user can alter the size of a window or close a window by means of the corresponding icon.
Furthermore, there have been proposed an information processing apparatus having a GUI by means of which the size of the displayed icons is altered in such a way that the occupancy ratio of the icons in each window is constantly held below a predetermined level if the user alters the size of a displayed window by operating the window (refer to, e.g., Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-004396).